Jeremiah 3:14 “Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.'”

As always in the prophetic books of scripture, we must be very careful to draw the line of demarcation between Israel and the Gentile nations. Too much confusion happens when people blur that line and start applying promises for Israel to the Church, OR they take prophetic scripture from the Prophets and try applying them to our age when they are distinctly for Israel in the future. You cannot do that.

There are times when material in the prophetic books can be applied to the Church and to general behavior. This is especially true of scripture that is dealing with morality and justice and walking with God. Be very clear, however, when examining prophetic passages.

In chapter 3 of Jeremiah, we have fantastic promises for Israel in restoration. Verse 14 begins a section that Jeremiah wrote about the future, but like all prophetic writers, they tried to figure out just when it all will happen. We have greater light with the New Testament, but that means greater responsibility on us to delve into scripture to see the glorious promises and try to understand them.

The verse addresses “faithless sons,” and that is exactly what Judah was like in Jeremiah’s time. Those faithless ones are being spoken to, but the Lord is looking way beyond them to a time when He restores the nation once and for all. Jeremiah had no idea he was writing of a time roughly 2500-2600 years in the future.

God calls a remnant of His people and will lead them into blessing. God always deals with remnants. Noah was a remnant, as was Elijah and the faithful 7,000 ones, as was each small church in the apostolic times. Even today, the true believers form a remnant. In my nation, barely 1 to 2% of Australia is born-again. China, the USA, and Pacific islands are higher but still small remnants.

In verse 14, the Lord will take one from a city, two from a family, and bring them back to Israel. I do not think that is literal and exact but represents smaller numbers, not the majority. It is possible that one-third is the remnant from another passage, but the calling and restoration will happen.

Jeremiah 3:15 “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.”

When God calls, He always provides, whether it be in ministry or in prophetic fulfillment. Here He will provide teachers for them for their spiritual betterment. Knowledge and understanding are mentioned, so they must be very essential items in God’s reckoning. We need to take note of those two and nurture them. What does the Church need? Knowledge and understanding. May the Lord grant that to us.

All that takes place in the Millennium for Israel. God gathers the Jewish saints of the Tribulation and brings them home. For possibly the first time ever, Israel will have shepherds after the heart of God, a similar reference to David. They will have shepherds like David. The prophets, over and over, decried the woeful nature of the shepherds who fed themselves and left the sheep to fall into ruin. I am ashamed to say these false shepherds are today in churches throughout Christendom.

Jeremiah 3:16 “and it shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD,’ and it shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor shall it be made again.'”

The ark of the covenant will be a thing of the past, not even remembered anymore. It will be irrelevant. Why is that, for the ark in the Tabernacle was holy, God’s presence among His people, and that is the key to it all. When Jesus comes at the Second Coming, He will literally be among His people, so there is no more a need for symbol or type. Jesus the Messiah is the Ark.

Today, the true Church finds refuge in Him, and in the Millennium, Israel also finds refuge in the Ark. The ark of the covenant becomes the Ark of the new covenant for both the Church and Israel.

That is why we must not use images or icons, or statues. The great symbolism/types in the Tabernacle are a reality in our hearts and will be in the future in Israel.

Jeremiah 3:17 “At that time they shall call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD. Nor shall they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.”

“At that time” is always indicative in the prophets, of the time after the Rapture, usually as it relates to Israel in its restoration and blessing. The previous verses dealt with the nation being restored, and now we are given some glimpses of that restoration. The focus firstly is on the city of the great God, Jerusalem. The city shall be known as “The Throne of the LORD.” LORD is the Old Testament Jehovah, but Jesus is Jehovah. Messiah shall reign in Jerusalem as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jerusalem is His city.

It is interesting the names the prophets give Jerusalem. Here are some more of them.

¥ Ir Ha’Emet (Zechariah 8:3) – City of Truth

¥ Kiryah Ne’emanah (Isaiah 1:25) – Faithful City

¥ Kiriyah Aliza (Isaiah 22:2) – Joyful City

¥ Gai Hizayon (Isaiah 22:1) – Valley of Vision

¥ Ariel (Isaiah 29:1) – Lion of God (This is also the name of a modern Israeli city.)

¥ Kiryat Hannah David (Isaiah 29:1) – City of David’s Camp

¥ Drushah (Isaiah 62:12) – Desired one

¥ Gilah (Isaiah 65:18) – Joy

¥ Tzur Hamishor (Jeremiah 21:13) – The Rock of the Plain

¥ Neveh Zedek (Jeremiah 31:22) – Dwelling of Righteousness

¥ Oholivah (Ezekiel 23:4) – My Tent is in Her

¥ Ir Ha’Elohim (Psalm 87:2) – City of God

¥ Klilat Yoffi (Lamentations 2:15) – Encompassing Beauty

Most of those names will be realized in the Millennium to their fullest extent.

The verse continues to say that because of the Name of the LORD, all the nations will be gathered to Jerusalem. Such will be the honor and respect of where the King will be. Zechariah continues the same idea – 14:9 “The LORD will be king over all the earth. In that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.” The LORD (Jesus, the King of the Jews) will rule from Jerusalem over the whole earth. We know that the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept in the City in the Millennium, and nations will send representatives to that yearly. Zechariah 14:16 “Then it will come about that any who are left, of all the nations that went against Jerusalem, [they] will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”

Verse 17 ends this way – “Nor shall they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.” The Gog war is right before the Second Coming, and this is what happens right after Gog’s defeat – Ezekiel 39:7 “My holy name I shall make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I shall not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.” AND Ezekiel 39:22 “and the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day onward.”

Israel is restored, and all of them are faithful. How wonderful that will be. However, that verse (17) is speaking of God’s nation, not the Gentiles, for we know at the end of the 1,000 years that all the malcontents from the nations are gathered up by Satan for one last attempt to overthrow God.

Jeremiah 3:18 “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.”

There is a lot of rubbish spoken about the lost tribes of Israel. They are not lost. God knows every one of them. The 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom (Israel/Samaria), when defeated by the Assyrians, were scattered among the nations, or absorbed into Judah, or remained living in the land (the Samaritans of New Testament times. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, but in the nation’s restoration, all tribal distinctions will never divide again.

“The land of the north” is an uncertain phrase. In Jeremiah’s thinking, that could have been Assyria, but I think it means “lands of the dispersion,” which in a wider sense would be the whole world. The Lord will bring His Jewish people home from over the face of the earth. Then there will be absolute unity, harmony and fellowship. Of course, they will have fellowship with one another because their fellowship will be with the Messiah. It will be a perfect fellowship.

Ours is not a perfect fellowship. John wrote in his first letter that we have fellowship with one another, and that is because, rightly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Our fellowship is with the Son, yet do we have fellowship with one another? No, we don’t, because of personal differences, doctrinal differences, personality differences, and in some cases “just can’t stand the person.” Thank God that in a coming day, the whole Church will know heavenly unity, harmony and fellowship, even though that is not possible on earth.

Jeremiah 3:19 “Then I said, ‘How I would set you among My sons, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from following Me.'”

Israel today is an unpleasant land if you are seeking beauty. It is dry and barren and rugged, not the lush forest that some of us might live in. However, God promises a land so pleasant that it will be more beautiful than any of the nations.

I think the thrust of the verse is that at the time of writing, God wished to do that for the nation but it was impossible, and that is why we have the words, “How I would set you among My sons.” It is the great desire of God, but the nation had to take its claimed course because it was so sinful, and that was one leading to destruction. Babylon was on the doorstep.

In that regard, there is not much difference today between those conditions and our nations today. Immoral United States (speaking generally) chose to pursue the path of destruction with the Democrats and Biden. Australia is going to the polls, and by the time this article is posted on RR, it will be right at the time of the election (May 21st). All the predictions are that such a wicked Government will be elected (the Australian Labor Party) as bad as, and probably worse, than the Democrats. People know the issues, but they will choose their own destruction just as Judah did in Josiah’s time. It is going to be a rough ride in both nations, so we need to hold on tightly to the Lord, our immovable Rock.

The verse ends with, “You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from following Me.” What a lovely promise and assurance for Israel this is. They will have that close relationship that calls God “My Father,” and they will never turn away again from their God. I don’t want to mix up the Divine Names, but within the Trinity, there is an interchange of Names. Yes, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

This verse from Isaiah reads, 9:6 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” In that verse, the Son (Messiah) is called “Mighty God” and “Eternal Father,” and I am not going to say any more about that except to state that restored Israel will recognize their Messiah as their “Eternal Father” (in the aspect of love, care and nurture I think).

Jeremiah 3:20 “Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover, so you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,’ declares the LORD.”

Verse 20 ends the portion I want to do today, and in that verse, Jeremiah immediately jumps from the glorious future blessings back into his immediate present. It is very common for prophetic writings to do that, and we need God’s help and skill to see these jumps and divisions and divide them correctly.

Israel departed from Jehovah as a woman departs from her husband. (I know that the same can apply to a man departing, but here it is woman because Israel is considered to be the wife of Jehovah. She was an unfaithful “spouse” who departed time after time with the pagan worship of surrounding nations.

Jeremiah focuses then on the reality of the present. Christians must likewise be focused on their present. I think some are so caught up with end times and prophecy (and anything else) that they can lose sight of living in the world right now.

May the Lord give us understanding in the treasures of His word.

ronaldf@aapt.net.au

 

 

Introduction

In A Study of Zechariah 14:1-11, I walk the reader through Zechariah 14:1-2 and explain how these two verses are speaking of the aftermath of the Abomination of Desolation event. Specifically, the attack on Jerusalem’s Israeli population after Antichrist declares himself God and sets up his image in the rebuilt third Jewish Temple, and, generally, on the subsequent attempted annihilation of Israel as a people.

Zechariah 14:1-2 has always been a difficult two verses for prophecy students and teachers alike because, at first glance, it doesn’t seem to fit any known scenarios, except for the Abomination of Desolation, and yet there seems to be a few problems with this supposition.

I would like to take a moment and revisit parts of A Study of Zechariah 14:1-11 and show the reader how I came to that conclusion while addressing those superficial problems within the text and narrative.

In concluding our study survey, I’ll share with the reader a unique link that I discovered, which confirms that Zechariah 14:1-2 is indeed the attack on Jerusalem and the Israeli people resulting from the Abomination of Desolation.

So, let’s begin.

The Problem of ‘Captivity’

Here’s how Zechariah 14:1-2 reads in the King James Version:

“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zechariah 14:1-2). (emphasis mine)

The first of two problems that I addressed in A Study of Zechariah 14:1-11 is that of “captivity.” We know that the Jews will flee into the mountains after the Abomination of Desolation to escape the onslaught of the Antichrist’s forces attempting to annihilate the Israeli people.

The following is what I discovered, as recorded in A Study of Zechariah 14:1-11.

“Into captivity” is the Hebrew word “bag·gō·w·lāh,” a derivative of “golah,” the feminine of “galah,” and its definition is “exile or exiles.” This, to me, seems to be the key as the definition of “exile” is: The state or a period of forced absence from one’s country or home; the state or a period of voluntary absence from one’s country or home.

The Complete Jewish Bible renders Zechariah 14:1-2:

“Look, a day is coming for Adonai when your plunder, [Yerushalayim], will be divided right there within you. ‘For I will gather all the nations against Yerushalayim for war. The city will be taken, the houses will be rifled, the women will be raped, and half the city will go into exile; but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.'”

“Exile” is most certainly the appropriate translation of the verse. An exile doesn’t have to mean that they are taken by force to another country. It can very well mean that these people are able to flee to a safe harbor as exiles when this attack happens, which would certainly fit the narrative of what happens after the Abomination of Desolation.

In Matthew 24:15-22, Jesus describes the event this way:

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

A perfect fit.

The Problem of the ‘Residue’

Again, here is Zechariah 14:1-2:

“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity [exile], and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city“ (Zechariah 14:1-2). (emphasis mine)

The second of the two issues I had to look into was, if many Israeli people are killed in this attack and half of them escape into the mountains as exiles, then who are “the residue of the people” who are “not cut off from the city”?

Here’s what I said, concerning this issue, in A Study of Zechariah 14:1-11.

One can be certain that in Jerusalem at the beginning of the siege, when “the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished,” will see many Jews killed in the process.

Of those that aren’t killed, “half of the city shall go forth into captivity [exile], and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” This tells me that those Jews going into exile will be fleeing to what most believe will be Petra when God will supernaturally protect them for the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation:

“And the woman [Israel] fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days” (Revelation 12:6).

The “residue of the people” that remains in the city can be none other than the Arabs, and other people of differing nationalities, that reside in Jerusalem along with the Antichrist’s UN forces who have probably been stationed there for the first three and one-half years of the Tribulation enforcing the “covenant” treaty that started the seven-year Tribulation (Daniel 9:27). The very same “peacekeeping” forces, representing the nations, that do the plundering, raping, and killing.

The Crux of This Short Study

With this understanding that Zechariah 14:1-2 is most certainly describing the attack of the Jewish people in Jerusalem following the Abomination of Desolation by the Antichrist, I wanted to share with the reader the crux of this article — that is, there is a unique link that solidifies this interpretation that I had never contemplated before.

I recently discovered this unique link as I was meditating on Zechariah 14:1-2 and was, to be sure, quite astonished when it came to me.

Houses, Women, and Exiles: A Unique Link

Here, again, are the words of our Lord concerning the Abomination of Desolation as cited in Matthew’s account of the Olivet Discourse.

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:15-21).

Now, here’s the section I’d like us to focus on with emphasis.

“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!” (Matthew 24:16-19). (emphasis mine)

Notice that Christ’s focus in these verses is to “flee into the mountains” and “not come down to take any thing out of his house” and “woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!” Essentially, the three themes specified from our Lord are people fleeing, things in houses, and women.

Let’s review Zechariah 14:1-2 and consider this unique link.

“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity [exile], and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zechariah 14:1-2). (emphasis mine)

We see the exact same three themes in Zechariah as we see in Matthew!

We see “the houses rifled” in Zechariah and Christ’s warning not to get “anything out of [their] house[s]” in Matthew; “the women ravished” in Zechariah and Yeshua’s warning of “woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck” in Matthew; and “half the city shall go forth into exile” in Zechariah as Jesus insists that the Jews “flee into the mountains” in Matthew!

What we have here are parallel accounts of the same event, namely, the attack on the Israeli people in Jerusalem and Judaea following the Abomination of Desolation. Jesus stresses the exact same themes, giving the Bible student the very real impression that He didn’t want us to miss the link between His prophetic Word and the prophecy of Zechariah 14:1-2.

I pray you have enjoyed this survey – which included elements from an earlier study – that, at least for me, confirms with greater clarity and understanding the prophecy of Zechariah 14:1-2 and the attack on Jerusalem and Judaea after Antichrist’s Abomination of Desolation.

A Quick Reminder

May we all continue to be Answering the Call of The Great Commission and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks, Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?

Keep reaching the lost for Christ while we still have time.

[Mark’s note: Please check out my recent article, The Lake of Fire and Salvation, which can only be accessed at FaithWriters.com.]

Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!

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